The Experiment
by ThatOneChick'98
Summary: Rose and Dimitri have been picked for a guardian research experiment. Now, they must handle the stress that most couples handle while staying objective. They find out that it becomes increasingly hard to keep their growing love a secret while they're parenting four children. Between kids, hospital visits, money issues, and time Rose and Dimitri have a lot to handle
1. Chapter 1

The Experiment Ch 1

I was bandaging Dimitris' hand when they came. Five Moroi all holding clipboards with a superior air around them.

"Dimitri Belikov? Rosemarie Hathaway?"

"Rose," I said, correcting him without meaning to, "What do you want?"

"Rose..." Dimitri warned, but I was already focused on his hand.

"I'm Kendrick Ivashkov. I'm the head of the psychology research department at the Court hospital," he paused like that was supposed to impress us, but all I noticed was that he was still standing over us as we sat on the mat. If he knew so much about psychology he should have known that standing over someone was not the best way to enter their confidence. "We are researching dhampir guarding partners, finding out what makes them work, how much stress the pair can handle together, things like that. When we asked around for partners that were the best fit for our tests, your names came up quite regularly."

"You could pick any pair of guardians and they would do the trick. Not just us. In fact, you seeking out a pair that would work best for the experiment could make it bias. It could become a confirmation bias experiment."

"You know about psychology."

"My best friend is depressed, of course I know."

"I see, well, I assure you this test will not turn out that way.

"The headmistress has already said she will support the experiment fully. She has already been briefed about what will happen. We will need you to come with us."

"I'm sorry," I said, finally looking at him, "I don't remember giving consent to being a part of the experiment."

"The headmistress has already given us the consent we need."

"She has no right!"

"She does. You are a minor placed under her control. Dimitri is an employee, that holds him to her service. Please, come with us."

I looked at Dimitri for help, but he was shaking his head, "If she gave consent we need to do it."

Before he finished, I was already getting up and heading towards Kirova's office, "You have got to be kidding me," I said, bursting through the door, "I don't want to do it."

"Doesn't matter, Rose. I fully support what the queen is doing. I'm sure she has her reasons."

"You don't even know her reasons!" I said, as I started to pace the floor.

"There are no laws about what a dhampir can't go through in an experiment. They could water board us, and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it! Do you understand that?"

"I promise you that there will be no water boarding in this experiment," Kendrick said coming in with Dimitri and the other Moroi.

"Oh no, you seem way to nice to do that. I can tell because you barged in unannounced and basically said, 'kay, you're doing this whether you like it or not'. You did however say that you were going to see how much stress we could handle which points to emotional abuse."

Everyone was silent. I had hit the nail on the head, "You have got to be kidding me."

"You two are one of the only pair of partners that would cover everything we want to accomplish. You're strong guardians, a novice and a guardian, a boy and a girl, a twenty four year old and seventeen year old. Not to mention the...new trauma you've been placed under."

"...Mason. You want to experiment on me using psychological torture when I've just seen one of my friends die a violent death?" no answer, "You all are sick."

"Rosemarie," Kirova said, "You and Dimitri will do the experiment."

"Why?!" I screamed.

"Because...I think it will be good for you both. It will put stress on your relationship and make it stronger."

I laughed, "If you make our relationship any stronger we'd be in bed together."

"Good."

I backed up a few feet, "That did not have the desired effect."

"The experiment," Kendrick said, "Would require you both to share a bed to see if you could take the stress of sharing a bedroom."

"Of course," Kirova said, "The law of the land still stands, and there would be no sexual encounters."

"Yes, of course."

"You are trying to torture us," I said, sitting down on the couch by Kirova's desk.

"Roza," Dimitri said, sitting by me, "There's no way to get out of this. We just have to do it."

"You'll be filmed around the clock for results. You'll share a house, a bed, and money. You'll pay Kirova for your rent, food, water, wifi, and lighting. You'll share responsibilities. Rose will still go to school. Dimitri will still work as a guardian. You may continue your mentoring relationship if you want."

"So not much will change except housing and money," I said to myself.

"Not exactly." Kendrick said, "There will be another change."

"Kids?!" Lissa said as we went through the cafeteria line.

"You heard me. A thirteen year old girl named Mary. A seven year old named Liz. A four year old named Alec and a two year old named Charlie."

"Four kids?! Dear Lord, Rose! Anything else?"

"The thirteen year old has a rare genetic disorder called CIPA, which stands for Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis."

"What the heck is that?"

"It means she can't feel pain. The seven year old has leukemia. The four year old was burnt in a fire that killed his parents and still suffers from it. The two year old has a pervasive developmental disorder."

"They're giving you these kids? Those kids need-"

"A family, Liss. They need a family and because of things they can not control they will never get one. These disorders or diseases or situations make them undesirable to any other couple, but the researchers want to put stress on Dimitri and I so they gave them to us."

Liss studied me for a second, then seemed to decide on something and went to sit down at our table where Christian was sitting.

"What? What are you thinking?" I said, watching Liss give Chris a peck on the cheek and start eating.

"Nothing, I just..."

"What?"

"I think you're going to love these kids."

"Lissa...it's just for two months. Then I'll never see them again."

"You'll see. I promise."

The next day, Lissa woke up early with me and Dimtri to get the kids and settle into the house.

While Dimitri and I were going to get used to a lot, they were going to have to go through more. They were coming from a small orphanage that taught them into a strange world. Sure, they were all dhampirs and training to be guardians, but in the end they were just kids and this was a lot of change in a short manner of time. I couldn't help but think that this experiment extended to them as well.

When we entered Kirova's office, they were all sitting on the couch. Two of them turned around, the seven year old and the four year old. Liz rushed towards us with enthusiasm, her hair (more likely her wig) flying behind her. She had pale, sickly skin and bright blue eyes. Her chubby face was framed by dark curls. She looked like an angel.

Shit, Lissa was right. I would love her.

"Miss Kirdoova says you are my new mommy! Hi, Mommy!"

"She's not your mother, Liz." Mary said, not looking at me. All I could see of her was her long brown hair. So this was the girl who didn't feel pain?

Alec had made his way off the couch and slowly towards us. From what I could see, nothing was really burnt except for his neck which was a slight pink in the back reaching into his shirt. His hair around there had been shaved off so it wouldn't aggravate it.

He smiled at me and waved as Liz moved onto Dimitri, jumping up into his arms. I made my way towards him and the couch and he grabbed my hand as I reached him.

"This is Charlie," he said, looking over the back of the couch at the toddler sticking his tongue out dumbly, "And that's Mary."

"Hi, Mary. I'm Rose."

"Don't expect me to call you 'Mom'."

"I don't expect you to do anything except what you have to."

"If that's really what you mean than we should have no problems."

Kirova handed me a file for each child, "Follow me."

Dimitri, Lissa, the kids, and I moved out of the office and to a small house that was built between the elementary school and high school. Liz clung to Dimitri's back trying to get him to talk but failing. I stayed back with Alec, who was having trouble walking.

Mary seemed to have pity on both Alec and I and said, "Bend down and let him get on your back, just don't hold onto him and he'll be fine. I did as she suggested and we were able to move a lot faster.

Entering the small two floor house, Kirova pointed to a stack of files, "Those hold the houses info and cost for everything. Each child is able to get their own room. The master bedroom is the last door at the end of the hallway. Two and a half baths and a living room with a kitchen. You all should be set. Your stuff has already been moved in. Call me if you have any questions."

Lissa stayed all day, helping Dimitri and I get accomodated to the kids and the house. She stayed until it was bedtime for the kids and left us to take care of getting them ready.

With Charlie on my hip, I entered Mary's room, "Bedtime. Get ready for bed."

She looked at me, "Is there any way I can turn that off?" she asked, nodding towards the corner of the room. I stepped further into the room to look and found a camera in the upper left corner of her room.

"I don't think so."

"So I'll be videotaped whenever I'm changing."

"I'm afraid so."

"...Super." she said, then lifted up her shirt, "I need you to chek my back for any bruises that look dangerous besides the ordinary bruises from training."

There were bruises, but none of them looked any different from the ones I had on my back, "Looks good."

"Any scratches?"

"No."

She lowered her shirt and came towards me, "Do I feel like I'm running a fever?"

I put the back of my hand on her forehead, "No. You're fine."

"Thanks. Looks like you're not totally worthless."

"Um, thanks?"

"You need to go change Alec's bandages for him before he goes to sleep. You have to have him lay on his stomach with the bandages off for five mintes to let the burns breathe, then you can bandage them back up."

"Okay, thank you."

I went to Alec's room and he smiled at me, "Hey sweetheart. We need to redo your bandages, okay?"

He nodded and I put Charlie down on the ground t help him take off his shirt. He had bandages all along his back to his thighs, no wonder he couldn't walk. I had undid the bandagesand had him lay on his stomach for a while.

"It hurts," he said.

"I'm sorry, just a few more minutes," I said, picking up Charlie from his spot on the ground. Part of his developmental disorder meant he couldn't even crawl, which was good I guess, it kept him from doing something he wasn't supposed to.

When the time was up, I redid the bandages and tucked him in.

"Night, Mommy," he said, grinning from ear to ear.

I was so startled by the name it took me a moment to realize he meant me, "Night, baby."

I was about to turn off the lights when he yelled, "No! Lights on! Then the monsters can't come."

So I left them on and walked to Charlie's room, changing him into pajamas and laying him in bed since he was already asleep.

Closing the door with a baby monitor in hand I ran straight into Dimitri, "Sorry."

He smiled at me, "Liz won't go to bed before she sees you."

"Okay, I'll go see her now."

"Then we need to go downstairs and talk about money."

"Sounds like fun."

Entering Liz's room, I saw that I was right, her wig was now sitting on a head manicin on her bedside table, "Mommy, I need a hug before I go to sleep."

I smiled and gave her one, "Night, Angel."

"Night, Mommy!" she said as I turned off the lights.

I was so not ready to be a mother.

I made my way downstairs, trying to get that word out of my head, but failing. "What's going on?" I asked Dimitri, sitting down beside him.

"I think you're right about them torturing us. There's no way we can pay for everything. Medical bills, food, rent, and lighting take up our whole income. I'll have to start working sixteen hours a day to pay for everything."

"What?! No! That's ridiculous."

"That's what we need to do. Otherwise we can't pay for everything."

"You do realize that there are only twenty-four hours in a day, right? You work for sixteen hours then you have to come home and try to get enough sleep to do it again the next day. Let me take some of those hours."

"No," he said, sternly, "You have school. Despite what most people think, that takes up a lot of time. I'm also going to need you to take care of the kids, even if I don't take the hours I won't be here when they get home from school. You'll need to take most of the weight."

I sat there for a second, not really knowing what to say. Dimitri looked at me with frustration and pity, covering his head with his hands, "You shouldn't have to deal with this. You're seventeen."

"Doesn't matter," I said, "I'm dealing with it now. I want to help you. What's the point of having us if the kids never see one of us?"

"What's the point in having us when neither of us are around to take care of them?"

"Okay, so I'll take two hours off you back."

"Rose..."

"What?! It's two hours!"

"That's two hours away from school or the kids or Lissa or training or having a life."

"You won't have a life if you do this."

"You're extroverted. You love people. I'd don't. I'm asking you to take care of people. It's what you do best. Even with the illnesses, you know more than I do about them. You'll know what to do with them.

"Liz took off her wig and I had no idea what to do with her. You came in and checked Mary without a second thought. Charlie was attached to your hip all day and he was fine. I try to pick him up and he cries. You're the best one to do this and I'm not going to take that away from them.

"Me taking sixteen hours instead of twelve will allow us to handle the cost of everything as long as we don't need anything else."

"What if one of the kids need to go to the infirmary?" I asked, interrupting his speech.

Dimitri was silent for a while, "We'll burn that bridge when we get to it."

"Great."

We were silent for a while, then I looked at him, "doctors don't usually do appointments during the weekend, I need you to take one day off of work after school finishes so we can take them to appointments together. I won't do that alone."

"Deal."

"Will you have to work weekends?"

"Yes. To pay for the emergency trips I guess I'll have to make those days sixteen hours too."

"Could we live off of twelve hours?"

"...Yes, unless they need something else."

"Take that time off. They need to know you're there for them."

"...Until we need the money, we can do that."

"If they have anything big, recitals, plays, or whatever they do, I want you there. Even if you're guarding, they need to know that you saw."

"I'll ask Kirova when something like that comes up."

"Have we covered everything?"

"I think so."

"Bedtime for the parents," I said, rushing towards the bedroom.

Dimitri laughed from behind me at my excitement to go to bed.

Maybe we would be okay.


	2. Chapter 2

The Experiment Ch 2

I woke up to the cold. I no longer had any blankets. Looking over at Dimitri, I saw that he had made himself a little cocoon of our covers. I almost laughed at him. All I could see was his face peeking out of the bundle.

He looked to peaceful for me to wake up so I got out of bed and grabbed a blanket from the chair in the room. Pulling it behind me, I climbed back in bed and snuggled up next to Dmitri. As pay back, or what I called pay back, I put my head on half his pillow.

I woke up a second time to Charlie crying through the monitor.

"Dimitri," I said, shaking his arm, and feeling him stir, "Before the sun rises he's your son."

"You being able to quote Lion King shows that you are more than capable of helping him yourself."

I slapped his arm, "You're not going to see him for a while. Go take care of him."

Dimitri untangled himself from the covers and made his way to Charlie's room. Through the monitor, I could hear him soothing Charlie. The sounds took a while to soothe the baby, but almost no time to soothe me.

The third and fourth time I woke up was to people entering the room. Dimitri came back from Charlie's room, and, not an hour later, I felt my empty side of the bed bend down and little hands shook me.

"Alec?" I asked, moving over to my other side so that I could look at the boy, "What's wrong?"

"Fire everywhere," he said, burrowing his face into my chest, and falling almost immediately to sleep.

"Just for tonight," I said to myself, "Then you'll go back to your room."

Surprisingly, I slept through the rest of the night. I was hoping to be able to sleep in the following Monday, but I knew the kids probably wouldn't let me. Imagine my surprise when Lissa dropped onto the bed beside me, shrieking at me to wake up.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

"Nope, it's Sunday, you've already slept through church, the least you could do is get up to be with your family."

"Lissa!"

"Up. Dimitri's already left to talk to Kirova."

"Talk to her about what?"

"His schedule. He said he talked to you about it."

"Right. That."

"Is he asking for less work time?"

"Uhh...something like that."

"What is he doing then?"

"Getting more hours."

"MORE?!"

"Yes," I said, getting up and going downstairs.

"Why would he be getting more hours?!"

"Shh, Lissa. Don't let the kids hear you," she shot me an annoyed look, "Dimitri and I can't pay for everything the kids need on the income we have. He won't let me work so the only thing left is for him to take more hours."

"You all could have asked me for money!"

I stared at her for a minute, telling her what she already knew, "If we did that we would never be able to live with ourselves."

We spent the day doing homework, taking care of the kids, hanging out, and getting ready for our first school day with the kids.

"That wasn't so bad," I said, laying in bed, watching Dimitri come in and change out of his guardian uniform, he put on a tshirt over his boxers before joining me under the covers.

"That's good, maybe this will be easier than we thought," I twisted my body so we were facing towards eachother, still under the blankets, "Are you going to steal my pillow again tonight?" he asked through the foot of space between us.

"ONly if you take my half of the covers."

"I saw what you did for Alec."

"I thought you were asleep."

"I know you did. That's possibly why it's so incredible. You're a natural mother," I shrugged as he continued, "I hope you get to be a mother for real one day."

I knew what he meant, of course. Sure, he wanted to be with me, but he didn't want me to give up what I do 'naturally'. He would give up any chance of being with me to make me happy.

"I refuse to get knocked up by some random Moroi."

He laughed a little, "I know. But you have Adrian."

"You hate Adrian."

"If he makes you happy...I could probably deal with him."

I looked at him for a second, then turned my head away from him, "Thanks for the consideration."

He smiled softly at me and played along with my joke, "You're welcome. I've been told I'm very considerate."

I laughed, laying down on my back, "What are we doing? We are trying to fit our old lives into this new one, but that's not possible. We have kids to take care of, and, as well as they're doing now, I don't think things are going to stay this way for long."

"You're right. Things are most likely going to go haywire, but that doesn't mean you can put your life on hold for two months.

"I can change my schedule to accommodate them, but if they need you during school what are you going to do?"

"Run out of the room, I guess."

He smiled softly at me, "Even though I know it won't make a difference, can we save running out of class for emergencies?"

"Yes, sir," I said, saluting him.

He leaned over me, "I'm serious. The experiment is not your priority, your education is. Don't be running out of class for kids that aren't yours."

We stared at each other for a while, then I turned away from him, "They deserve a family."

"They do, but not us. This is temporary. We can't give them a permanent family. In two months, the kids will go away. Maybe occasionally they'll think of us, but that's it. Charlie won't even remember us."

When I didn't say anything back he whispered, "It needed to be said."

"I know."

"Take care of yourself before you take care of them. They aren't Moroi."

They come first. The kids don't. Just the Moroi. Something seemed wrong about putting the kids' lives lower than someone else's because they are of a different race.

Lissa had said I would love these kids, and, even now, I knew she was right. Would I be able to put her life over those kids'? And, if I was, would it be the right thing to do?


	3. Chapter 3

"Roza!" Dimitri said, jumping onto the bed like a little kid, "I need to go to work. You need to get the kids up."

"You do realize we're falling into sexist roles, right? Me with the kids, you with the work, it's totally sexist," I said, shoving my head into his pillow.

"You're right, but that's all we have so far. Maybe on odd days you can go to work and I can go to school."

"All right, fine," I said, getting up and going to take a shower, "But they're calling you 'mom' and me 'dad' so they know we aren't sexist."

He chuckled at me, before grabbing his duster and leaving, "I'll see you tonight. Don't kill the kids."

"I'm not making any promises!" I called after him.

I showered and dressed before going downstairs. The kids were all dressed and eating their breakfast when I entered, the TV on Disney Channel blaring through the room.

"Alright, kiddos. First day of school." This got many different reactions. Mary turned green from nervousness, Liz turned red from excitement, and Alec remained completely passive. Charlie, who had no idea what I was saying, fed off of the mixed emotions in the room and made a sound of disgust.

"What are they going to do with us?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to see. I could send you on your way and you all could go and get everything settled yourselves or I could walk your classrooms. Which would you all prefer?"

"Classrooms? As in, more than one classroom?"

I had forgotten that they were all educated in the same classroom where they came from. Not only the students and teachers would be different for them, it would be the whole institution.

"I'll walk you all today."

Mary shifted uneasily.

"It's always nerve wrecking the first day. That's okay," I said looking at them all individually, "Just smile and work through the nerves. You'll do fine."

I walked them to the school with Charlie in my arms and Alec on my back. I didn't want Alec to get tired so quickly on the first day of school and Mary was too nervous to hold him or the baby.

We dropped Liz and Alec off, who were too excited about meeting people to see their baffled stares as new kids entered the room in the middle of the year.

I walked Mary to her side of the building with Charlie on my hip, "You nervous?"

"Yeah, it's already two weeks into the second semester. Everyone already has all their friends."

"Then you'll be the friend no one expected to have, but love anyway."

"Yeah, sure."

"They don't have to like you yet. You've got all the time to make them do that. You just have to get through the day."

Mary looked at me and nodded before looking down at her feet.

I felt hopeless, I didn't know what to say to make her feel better. I wasn't Dimitri, who could open his mouth and say one thing and not have to say anything else. I rattled my head to figure something out, but came up with nothing except, "You'll do fine."

"Thanks, mom," she said stressing my fake title, a title I didn't deserve.

I directed her into the building towards the middle school principal, who was waiting with her school schedule, "Okay, there you go. You'll get your books today, and - where's your backpack?"

Mary and I stopped and stared at each other for a second. I knew we were forgetting something.

I shifted Charlie from one arm to the other and handed her my book bag. She took my books out and handed them to me, "It's right here."

The principal gave us an uneasy grin, "Okay. Works for me."

We followed her down the hallway and Mary leaned towards me, "We just got judged hard."

"I noticed that. We'll get you a backpack tonight. I guess we should have thought of that before. I'll take care of it."

She nodded as the principal opened a door to the classroom, "In you go."

Mary looked back at me and I smiled and nodded at her, trying to silently encourage her in.

I stood at the door as the principal took Mary into the room, "Kids, this is Mary Belikov. I want you to make her as comfortable as you can. Mary," she said turning towards her, "Why don't you take a spot next to Jill. Jill make her feel welcome."

I left as Mary sat down next to a brown haired girl who was already talking excitedly to her and pointing at me. I silently hoped that being associated with me didn't ruin her reputation before she had a chance to make her own.

The principal followed me bumping into camera man who was assigned to follow me during the experiment while I was out of the house.

"So, you're really doing this? Taking care of four kids?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Everyone has a choice, they just might not get to have that choice listened to and granted. It surprises me that you haven't chosen to fight this."

"Why would I? Those kids now have a family. A screwed up one, but still a family."

"You'd risk your future for theirs?"

"I'm literally training to risk my future to save someone else's. That's what guardians do."

"They aren't Moroi."

"Are you saying that just because those kids aren't Moroi means they shouldn't get a future?" I stopped in the middle of the hallway, crossing my arms over my chest.

The principal shuffled uneasily, and, even though she was much older and taller, it seemed like I was suddenly the adult, "No, that's not what I meant!"

"Then shut your mouth before you say something else you 'don't mean'."

I entered Stan's classroom, trying to sneak to my seat while he was turned around writing on the board. Dimitri, who was standing in his usual spot on the back wall, gave me a look that said he knew my excuse, but I couldn't be late to class either way.

"Tardy, Hathaway!" Stan said.

I swung my body around to see that he hadn't even turned. How in the world? Never mind.

"I have a good excuse this time though."

"I know. Kirova sent out a memo about it. It's stupid."

I sighed, figuring I'd hear the same thing the principal told me, but he continued, "Nevertheless, good for you two for caring for those kids."

The silence that fell over the classroom was heavy. This was the first time my classmates were hearing about the experiment and I was glad I didn't have to be the first one to say anything. But I was also astounded that Stan had actually given me praise.

We stood there for a while, looking at each other before I whispered, "I don't know how to take that."

Stan smiled a little, breaking his guardian mask, "Go sit down, Hathaway."

I hurried to my seat and he continued the lesson.

By the start of second period, Lissa had taken her place by my side, "Hey! You and Dimitri are the talk of the town."

I looked at her, surprised at the efficiency of the student body, "They just found out first period!"

"My class was talking about it by the second half of first. I guess it got out somehow."

I slammed my head on the desk as Jessie came up behind me, "Hey, mama! How's the kids?"

Ralf laughed beside him, throwing in, "We always knew you would be a mom early on!"

I tried to stand up in my seat, but Lissa grabbed onto my shirt and pulled me back down, giving me a silent message: they just weren't worth it.

I sat down in my seat and tried to avoid the stares and whispers coming from around me. It didn't work well.

"I'm going to kill someone," I whispered to Lissa. She didn't reply, "They know I can hear them."

"Calm down," she said, shifting closer to me.

"No, this is ridiculous!"

"Rose, " Lissa said, finally looking at me, "People gossiping about you has never bothered you before. Why is it bothering you now?"

I blanked. Totally and completely blanked. I didn't know why I felt this way, I just did.

Lissa smiled, "Could it be because Dimitri and the kids are involved in this rumor?" Apparently, my face said it all because she continued, "Just answer their questions and pretend that you're happy about the kids, that will get them to stop quicker, and then, for God's sake, keep those kids out of the rumor chain before you kill someone."

We were silent for a while, taking in the new predicament we were both caught up in.

"I'm so sorry you got tied up in this, but I'm so glad you're here to help me with this," I said, smiling gratefully at her.

She started to laugh silently, "Of course I'm going to help you, I'd help you with anything, and, despite what you think, I have a feeling this experiment is going to help you a lot more than it will hurt you."

"Let's hope," I said, trying to focus on the lesson.

"How old are they?"

"Are you really going to do this?"

"You're sleeping with Dimitri Belikov?"

"Do you know anything about being a mom?"

"How long are you going to do this?"

"You, taking care of kids? Do they want to kill those kids?"

"Okay, stop," I said throwing my hands up, "There are four of them, they range from 2 to 13. I am sleeping next to Dimitri, not with him, and we have no idea what we're doing or how long we'll be doing it. We're taking it day by day. Anything else you want to ask I can't really answer because I don't know. Mmmkay?"

They stood there for a second before leaving, some of them bumping into Eddie who was coming to sit with us.

"Do you want to interrogate me too?" I asked him.

"Yeah. You know I'm at your and Dimitri's disposal, right? I'm awesome with kids, just saying."

I smiled at him, "I was just assuming you would be willing to help."

"You assumed right. Are you ready for the senior assignments?"

I looked at Lissa, who smiled at me, "Following around my best friend for a while? Yeah, I'm ready for that."

"I just hope I get someone I can stand."

"You'll get someone good,"Lissa said, trying to calm his nerves.

"Little Dhampir," Adrain said in the hallway, pulling me away.

"Whoa, hey!" I said, following him away.

"When were you going to tell me you had a kid?"

"Well...I actually have four."

He looked down at my stomach in astonishment, "What?"

"Oh my God, you think I'm pregnant?"

His eyes flicked back up to me, "No?"

"That sounds like a question."

"How'd you get four kids?"

So, I told him about the experiment and once I was done he leaned towards me, "That's why that dude has been videotaping us?"

I turned and looked at the cameraman, who waved at me with his free hand, "Yes, Adrain. Yes."

"One more question: Can I still seduce you?"

"You can try," I said, refusing to smile at him.

"Good, I'll see you later Little Dhampir."

Then he left and I was late to my third period class. Again.


End file.
